Food Fight! Burger King Battles McDonald's Over Breakfast With Burgers

Burger King beefs up breakfast with a helping of Whoppers.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- There's an all-out burger war in the U.S. fast food industry.

You have the name game going on between McDonald's (MCD) and Yum! Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell over "Ronald McDonald" and their competitng breakfast menus, including Taco Bell's Waffle Taco.

Turns out Burger King (BKW) has a new idea to increase breakfast sales. Say hello to the breakfast burger.

Yes, Burger King announced it is bringing burgers to its breakfast menu. You will soon be able to order a Whopper, Big King, or Chicken Sandwich at over 5,000 Burger King locations in the United States bright and early.

To me this seems like a no-brainer that could increase Burger King's traffic. The move could appeal to late-night workers looking for filling food, or people who have been up for half a day and would rather get a burger than a sausage biscuit. Essentially, Burger King does not have to do any marketing or testing of new breakfast products because it knows its burgers are loved by millions of Americans.

Current breakfast items offered by Burger King include the Croissan'wich, sausage biscuit, Cinnabon minibon and Seattle's Best Coffee. The coffee brand, which is owned by Starbucks (SBUX), could see a lift in sales if more people frequent Burger King.

McDonald's has 25% of the breakfast market share, which brings in a reported $50 billion. Taco Bell is slowly taking part of that business away and Burger King could be the latest to gain significant share in the breakfast segment. Burger King already has a strong breakfast segment and could become a bigger thorn in McDonald's side with the burger offerings. Of course, McDonald's could follow the same strategy and offer its Big Mac for breakfast.